It is an object of the present invention to utilize the advantages to be gained from the fact that gold is heavier than most other material it may be found with, and from the fact that fine gold particles tend to float and clump together on the surface of water. It is estimated that between 80 to 90% of all gold can be found in the form of gold dust or "flour gold" (microgold). The recovery of these fine gold particles is where the greatest potential exists for gold-panners.
A known method of retrieving more fine gold from a motorized gold pan is by adding a secondary motor and pump in order to provide a fine spray wash across the pan and spiral rib while the pan is rotating, such as shown in prior art view FIG. 2. In this manner, the heavier gold tends to climb the spiral rib faster and move into the center of the pan where it empties into a collector (or catch) cup external of the pan along with other non-gold particles.
This method has not always been successful in that the pump provides a continuous spray that does not always allow fine flour gold and heavier small nuggets to climb up and over the spiral rib and through the hole into the collector pan because the water spray never ceases. Additionally, in applications where the water is dirty, the pump can clog up fairly quickly. Also, the addition of the second pump motor makes the gold pan more expensive because it requires an additional motor and a pressure pump to provide this spray wash. The panning apparatus, including this secondary motor and power supply, becomes heavier to carry to remote prospecting areas, which becomes a disadvantage.
Moreover, the external cup has been undesirable as the external cup may tip over and lose valuable contents. Also, the contents will still need to be further separated to obtain relatively pure gold.